protein liquid diet only question

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mjoslin1990
mjoslin1990 Posts: 142 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have a female friend who is 45yrs old and very overweight. She is going to be having surgery (gastric sleeve) done. She was saying that the first 2 weeks (before surgery) she can only have protein shakes and then a short time after and so on.

I'm 24yr old and 205lbs at 5ft 4in. What would the ramifications be if I were to do the protein liquid diet with her for 2 weeks? I'm only asking bc yes I need to lose weight, but more importantly I want to be supportive and be there with her to help her. Her girlfriend probably wont do it with her and I'm sure it will be hard enough on my friend. We are also co-workers, so I figured we could do it together since we see eachother 12hrs a day.

Has anyone ever done anything like that? It seems a little drastic, but If Dr's really put limits on people like that then I don't see how I would die doing it.

Any input or thoughts? No bashing on this topic either, it's an idea right now, not a for sure thing. thanks in advance

Replies

  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    I have a female friend who is 45yrs old and very overweight. She is going to be having surgery (gastric sleeve) done. She was saying that the first 2 weeks (before surgery) she can only have protein shakes and then a short time after and so on.

    I'm 24yr old and 205lbs at 5ft 4in. What would the ramifications be if I were to do the protein liquid diet with her for 2 weeks? I'm only asking bc yes I need to lose weight, but more importantly I want to be supportive and be there with her to help her. Her girlfriend probably wont do it with her and I'm sure it will be hard enough on my friend. We are also co-workers, so I figured we could do it together since we see eachother 12hrs a day.

    Has anyone ever done anything like that? It seems a little drastic, but If Dr's really put limits on people like that then I don't see how I would die doing it.

    Any input or thoughts? No bashing on this topic either, it's an idea right now, not a for sure thing. thanks in advance

    PSMF's can be done safely but I'd still consult a doctor before doing one.
  • So_Much_Fab
    So_Much_Fab Posts: 1,146 Member
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    I don't see where you have to follow your friend's diet in order to be supportive.

    My guess is, if you follow that diet you'll probably lose weight that you'll put back on immediately after stopping.
  • AmyG1982
    AmyG1982 Posts: 1,040 Member
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    Just remember, if you're only putting liquid in you'll probably only get liquid out... be prepared for 2 weeks of diarrhea @_@. You'll also want to be careful when adding real foods back into your diet. I'd say if you don't have to you're better off just limiting your calories and exercising more.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    I don't see where you have to follow your friend's diet in order to be supportive.

    My guess is, if you follow that diet you'll probably lose weight that you'll put back on immediately after stopping.

    agreed.
  • EmmieBaby
    EmmieBaby Posts: 1,235 Member
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    Good on you for supporting your friend

    you will most likely lose weight (which you will gain back when you go back to solids)
    the only thing I would advise is make sure you are hitting at least 1200 cals net.
  • donnat238
    donnat238 Posts: 309 Member
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    Check with your doctor and make sure it's a meal replacement protein shake, so you get the nutrients in. Good luck to both of you! :smile:
  • EmmieBaby
    EmmieBaby Posts: 1,235 Member
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    I don't see where you have to follow your friend's diet in order to be supportive.

    My guess is, if you follow that diet you'll probably lose weight that you'll put back on immediately after stopping.

    I think she means in the sense that her friend wouldn't be alone in this extreme diet.
  • So_Much_Fab
    So_Much_Fab Posts: 1,146 Member
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    I don't see where you have to follow your friend's diet in order to be supportive.

    My guess is, if you follow that diet you'll probably lose weight that you'll put back on immediately after stopping.

    I think she means in the sense that her friend wouldn't be alone in this extreme diet.

    I understood that, but my point is that you don't have to mimic to be supportive. Would it be supportive of her to go through chemo if her friend had cancer?
  • MissMariahLee
    MissMariahLee Posts: 55 Member
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    I think it's a great idea for you to help your friend out. I had lap band done and at times it was hard to watch everyone eating what I couldn't have. But it was all worth it in the end. You don't have to follow her diet to support her but I think it would help her a lot! How come hers is strictly protein shakes? I was still allowed to have vegetables, fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, pudding, and Jell-O as well. Even though it was under 1000 calories a day it was a ton of protein so I think it should be fine. I would just be prepared for the weight to not stay off very long once you start eating solids again.
  • mjoslin1990
    mjoslin1990 Posts: 142 Member
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    definitely was considering the diarrhea issue... at work no less.... Work is also doing a biggest loser challenge that I WAS going to be part of, but that was before this friend decided to do surgery (therefore shes not participating either).

    The point in doing it with her is to actually go through it with her, so she doesn't feel so alone or like people dont understand. I'm well aware that I could gain it all back, but I also said that about the 20lbs I lost over a year ago and still havent gained back.

    I need a "jumpstart" to get back to what I was doing, I figure this is supportive for her, but will also start me out so I can continue counting calories later.
  • mjoslin1990
    mjoslin1990 Posts: 142 Member
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    (edited to quote)
  • mjoslin1990
    mjoslin1990 Posts: 142 Member
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    I don't see where you have to follow your friend's diet in order to be supportive.

    My guess is, if you follow that diet you'll probably lose weight that you'll put back on immediately after stopping.

    I think she means in the sense that her friend wouldn't be alone in this extreme diet.

    I understood that, but my point is that you don't have to mimic to be supportive. Would it be supportive of her to go through chemo if her friend had cancer?

    Chemo isnt even a valid response? Chemo wouldn't be beneficial in any way? losing some weight would be....
  • mjoslin1990
    mjoslin1990 Posts: 142 Member
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    I think it's a great idea for you to help your friend out. I had lap band done and at times it was hard to watch everyone eating what I couldn't have. But it was all worth it in the end. You don't have to follow her diet to support her but I think it would help her a lot! How come hers is strictly protein shakes? I was still allowed to have vegetables, fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, pudding, and Jell-O as well. Even though it was under 1000 calories a day it was a ton of protein so I think it should be fine. I would just be prepared for the weight to not stay off very long once you start eating solids again.

    not sure, she was just telling me a little about it and said protein shakes. She did NOT however give me a calorie "number" and I'm not sure what hers would be but I'm not going to go below 1400 calories for sure, I'm not looking to lose 100 lbs in 2 weeks lol
  • jr1985
    jr1985 Posts: 1,033 Member
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    I'm no doctor... but I would imagine you could be on a diet of anything for the 2-3 weeks that you had planned on doing it and probably be fine without any long term effects... definitely not something you would want to do permanently though... Plus if you read the ingredients in most meal replacement shakes... you would be better of just eating frozen yogurt with a multi-vitamin for lunch... While they don't taste great, I would recommend a raw organic, vegan type of shake, then at least you will be getting your nutrients from fruits and vegetables. But... coming off of the liquid diet, if you are anything like me, you are more likely to pig out because you are so hungry and put all the weight you lost plus some back on... Best of luck to you and your friend though! good for you for wanting to be supportive to her!
  • Michifan
    Michifan Posts: 95 Member
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    A few years ago I went on a optifast diet. It worked well, tasted good and definitely dropped the lbs.

    HOWEVER

    I don't think it helped me live a healthy lifestyle and made me dependent on the shakes. Such that every time I wanted to lose weight, I felt I needed to go back on the optifast. I decided that I needed to stop taking food supplements and learn what my body needs to learn to live a healthy life. I'm much more involved in what I eat and more intuitive to my body.


    I wouldn't tell someone not to do optifast because it works, its easy and it delivers. But the education of healthy eating is how we keep weight off and learn to live healthy.
  • skinnyinnotime
    skinnyinnotime Posts: 4,141 Member
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    Work is also doing a biggest loser challenge that I WAS going to be part of, but that was before this friend decided to do surgery (therefore shes not participating either).

    ^^This and you would drink shakes for 2 weeks to support your friend? You sounds like an amazing friend to have...but really why not look after your own needs too, if you want to do the competition do it, if you don't want to drink shakes don't.

    Seriously, your friend is an adult and shouldn't need hand holding through these things, you can still offer support without compromising your own desires.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    I don't see where you have to follow your friend's diet in order to be supportive.

    My guess is, if you follow that diet you'll probably lose weight that you'll put back on immediately after stopping.
    This..

    Since your friend has chosen gastric bypass, she will have a whole lot of struggles ahead of her that you might not be able to empathize with. My sister in law had gastric bypass, lost tons of weight, and has apparently gained some of it back due to a change in her job activity. She once told me if she had it to do over again she would not have gastric bypass.

    A calorie deficit is all that's required to lose weight, and that can be achieved with good old fashioned food.
  • So_Much_Fab
    So_Much_Fab Posts: 1,146 Member
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    Chemo isnt even a valid response? Chemo wouldn't be beneficial in any way? losing some weight would be....

    It was an analogy. Since I have to spell it out:

    If you friend was going through chemo you wouldn't do the same in an effort to be supportive, thus, you don't need to follow your friend's restrictive pre-op diet in order to be supportive.

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